Club agenda: Religion

Students meet to discuss faith, current ethics and events

Nov. 2, 2013

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Jordan Chilton speaks about her graduate thesis at a Religious Studies Club Meeting last month on the Missouri State University campus. All MSU students are welcome to attend club meetings, no matter their major. / Bruce E Stidham/for the News-Leader

Students discussed multiple subjects at a Religious Studies Club Meeting at Missouri State on October 3, 2013. / Bruce E Stidham/for the News-Leader

MSU students invited

What: Religious Studies Club meeting: “Secularization: Is religion in America declining?” Where: Religious Studies Department Student Lounge, Strong Hall 251 When: 5 p.m. Thursday Information: The club is open to Missouri State University students of all majors. Questions? Email bailey459@live.missouristate.edu.

Bailey Whiles leads the discussion at a Religious Studies Club Meeting at Missouri State on October 3, 2013. / Bruce E Stidham/for the News-Leader

MSU student Grant Hartley speaks during a Religious Studies Club Meeting at Missouri State on October 3, 2013. / Bruce E Stidham/for the News-Leader

MSU student Grant Hartley speaks during a Religious Studies Club Meeting at Missouri State on October 3, 2013 / Bruce E Stidham/for the News-Leader

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A small group of Missouri State University students listened intently as Jordan Chilton explained her thesis on the connection between gender and sex as perceived by Evangelical Christians. Undergraduate Grant Hartley followed as he shared his story about life as a gay Christian.

The discussion did not take place in a classroom, but during a monthly meeting of the student-run Religious Studies Club.

The topics of the meetings are complex. Gender and religion, how various religions treat animals and the decline of religion in America are all to be tackled this semester.

Club President Bailey Wiles, senior Religious Studies major, said the club’s goal is not to find answers to these issues, but rather “to promote tolerance and talk between different types of people about current events and ethics and how it all relates to religion.”

The latest meeting’s topic was “Gender Issues and Religion.” Wiles started the meeting by reiterating the club’s mission and one rule: “Say your opinions but don’t yell them.”

She said she wants the club to be “a discussion, not a debate.”

A relevant topic

At one recent meeting, eight people listened to information presented by Chilton and Hartley, then followed up with questions.

“What I’ll be proving through those manuals is that Evangelicals equate sex with gender, which is something that a lot of scholars have refuted, that they’re not the same,” she said.

Chilton said she seeks to prove that when people cross their gender boundaries, such as dressing or acting like the opposite sex, they are perceived as being a homosexual.

Wiles, who acts as a moderator during the meetings, said, “If you see a girl with short hair, people make a judgment that she must be a lesbian, or if you meet a guy with a high voice, he must be gay. Is that what you guys think?”

Club attendee Shaun Fossett said, “I would venture to say that the majority of Americans are operating under that mentality. For the majority, it’s something that really hasn’t been thoughtfully considered. I think conversations such as this don’t happen enough.”

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And that is why the club exists, Wiles said, to discuss and think about topics through the scope of religion, which is a big part of many people’s daily lives.

Wiles said students from many faith backgrounds have attended the club. No one is required to say what religion they practice or if they do not practice a religion, and students from all majors are welcome. Through attending the club, Wiles said she feels more connected to people of different religions.

“It’s always good to weigh other people’s opinions or at least have knowledge about them,” she said. “If we were more willing to discuss and hear other people’s opinions, we would see that its not so different from our own.”

Club beginnings

In 1982, Micki Pulleyking, a then-undergraduate student at Southwest Missouri State University (now MSU), started a club for the newly approved Religious Studies major with friend Ken Elkins. The club was called Zeitgeist, meaning spirit of the age.

Their goal, in part, was to attract students to the major and “to make space for conversation about personal human existential questions” and “have an opportunity for inter-religious dialogue,” said Pulleyking.

More than 30 years later, Pulleyking and Elkins are able to witness their work as undergraduates firsthand as they now both teach at MSU.

“(A Religious Studies degree) means you want to think deeply about things that matter in life and you want a solid undergraduate degree in the humanities; so (it) is great preparation for any graduate degree — hopefully the Religious Studies Club enables students to open doors for one another, for life,” Pulleyking said.

'Non-threatening atmosphere'

John Strong, Religious Studies Club faculty sponsor and associate professor, said, “As much as teachers try to create an engaging class atmosphere, classrooms can be intimidating. There is a professor who is an authority figure, there are grades at stake and students can be competitive in these environments.”

Strong said the Religious Studies Club is “a non-threatening atmosphere where (students) can explore these ideas they hear in their classes. I would hope that they would have fun and be curious about the material.”

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During the October meeting, Religious Studies major Hartley, who will take over as club president next semester, shared his personal struggle as a gay Christian.

“I grew up in a very small conservative town,” he said. “Around when I was 13, I discovered I had a homosexual orientation. I sort of saw it as a phase, but it wasn’t because it never ended.”

Hartley said he kept his orientation a secret until he was a senior in high school. He started to attend MSU and became active in clubs like Cru: Campus Crusade for Christ and Spectrum: LGBTQ and Ally Alliance.

“I’d always believed that somehow being homosexual was wrong. I was later to find out that it was just gay sex that was forbidden,” Hartley said. “Right now the view I hold is that heterosexual marriage is God’s intended will for humankind and because I have a homosexual orientation, I am choosing to remain celibate for the rest of my life unless my orientation changes or God provides me a wife.”

Hartley’s story prompted a discussion about how he will be accepted by both the gay and Christian communities. “To some people I’m not gay enough and to some I’m not Christian enough,” he said.

Wiles said she expected the topic of “Gender Issues and Religion” to be more controversial and she was surprised at the club attendees’ response. “I’ve been going to these meetings assuming that someone is going to be very strong-willed and want to debate and it really hasn’t been that way. I’ve found that people are a lot more kind and compassionate and willing to discuss things,” she said.

Wiles said the club does not try to change people’s beliefs. She just wants people to be more tolerant and understanding about other people who are different from them.

“We want you to know about other positions,” she said. “That can strengthen your beliefs. It’s fun, for me at least, to hear about other people’s ideas and ideas that I’ve never thought about before.”